Chapter XV: Progress Of The Christian Religion.—Part VII

I. The community of goods, which had so agreeably amused the
imagination of Plato, 128 and which subsisted in some degree
among the austere sect of the Essenians, 129 was adopted for a
short time in the primitive church. The fervor of the first
proselytes prompted them to sell those worldly possessions, which
they despised, to lay the price of them at the feet of the
apostles, and to content themselves with receiving an equal share
out of the general distribution. 130 The progress of the
Christian religion relaxed, and gradually abolished, this
generous institution, which, in hands less pure than those of the
apostles, would too soon have been corrupted and abused by the
returning selfishness of human nature; and the converts who
embraced the new religion were permitted to retain the possession
of their patrimony, to receive legacies and inheritances, and to
increase their separate property by all the lawful means of trade
and industry. Instead of an absolute sacrifice, a moderate
proportion was accepted by the ministers of the gospel; and in
their weekly or monthly assemblies, every believer, according to
the exigency of the occasion, and the measure of his wealth and
piety, presented his voluntary offering for the use of the common
fund. 131 Nothing, however inconsiderable, was refused; but it
was diligently inculcated that, in the article of Tithes, the
Mosaic law was still of divine obligation; and that since the
Jews, under a less perfect discipline, had been commanded to pay
a tenth part of all that they possessed, it would become the
disciples of Christ to distinguish themselves by a superior
degree of liberality, 132 and to acquire some merit by resigning
a superfluous treasure, which must so soon be annihilated with
the world itself. 133 It is almost unnecessary to observe, that
the revenue of each particular church, which was of so uncertain
and fluctuating a nature, must have varied with the poverty or
the opulence of the faithful, as they were dispersed in obscure
villages, or collected in the great cities of the empire. In the
time of the emperor Decius, it was the opinion of the
magistrates, that the Christians of Rome were possessed of very
considerable wealth; that vessels of gold and silver were used in
their religious worship, and that many among their proselytes had
sold their lands and houses to increase the public riches of the
sect, at the expense, indeed, of their unfortunate children, who
found themselves beggars, because their parents had been saints.
134 We should listen with distrust to the suspicions of strangers
and enemies: on this occasion, however, they receive a very
specious and probable color from the two following circumstances,
the only ones that have reached our knowledge, which define any
precise sums, or convey any distinct idea. Almost at the same
period, the bishop of Carthage, from a society less opulent than
that of Rome, collected a hundred thousand sesterces, (above
eight hundred and fifty pounds sterling,) on a sudden call of
charity to redeem the brethren of Numidia, who had been carried
away captives by the barbarians of the desert. 135 About a
hundred years before the reign of Decius, the Roman church had
received, in a single donation, the sum of two hundred thousand
sesterces from a stranger of Pontus, who proposed to fix his
residence in the capital. 136 These oblations, for the most part,
were made in money; nor was the society of Christians either
desirous or capable of acquiring, to any considerable degree, the
encumbrance of landed property. It had been provided by several
laws, which were enacted with the same design as our statutes of
mortmain, that no real estates should be given or bequeathed to
any corporate body, without either a special privilege or a
particular dispensation from the emperor or from the senate; 137
who were seldom disposed to grant them in favor of a sect, at
first the object of their contempt, and at last of their fears
and jealousy. A transaction, however, is related under the reign
of Alexander Severus, which discovers that the restraint was
sometimes eluded or suspended, and that the Christians were
permitted to claim and to possess lands within the limits of Rome
itself. 138 The progress of Christianity, and the civil confusion
of the empire, contributed to relax the severity of the laws; and
before the close of the third century many considerable estates
were bestowed on the opulent churches of Rome, Milan, Carthage,
Antioch, Alexandria, and the other great cities of Italy and the
provinces.

128 (return) [ The community instituted by Plato is more perfect
than that which Sir Thomas More had imagined for his Utopia. The
community of women, and that of temporal goods, may be considered
as inseparable parts of the same system.]

129 (return) [ Joseph. Antiquitat. xviii. 2. Philo, de Vit.
Contemplativ.]

130 (return) [ See the Acts of the Apostles, c. 2, 4, 5, with
Grotius’s Commentary. Mosheim, in a particular dissertation,
attacks the common opinion with very inconclusive arguments. *
Note: This is not the general judgment on Mosheim’s learned
dissertation. There is no trace in the latter part of the New
Testament of this community of goods, and many distinct proofs of
the contrary. All exhortations to almsgiving would have been
unmeaning if property had been in common—M.]

131 (return) [ Justin Martyr, Apolog. Major, c. 89. Tertullian,
Apolog. c. 39.]

132 (return) [ Irenæus ad Hæres. l. iv. c. 27, 34. Origen in Num.
Hom. ii Cyprian de Unitat. Eccles. Constitut. Apostol. l. ii. c.
34, 35, with the notes of Cotelerius. The Constitutions introduce
this divine precept, by declaring that priests are as much above
kings as the soul is above the body. Among the tithable articles,
they enumerate corn, wine, oil, and wool. On this interesting
subject, consult Prideaux’s History of Tithes, and Fra Paolo
delle Materie Beneficiarie; two writers of a very different
character.]

133 (return) [ The same opinion which prevailed about the year
one thousand, was productive of the same effects. Most of the
Donations express their motive, “appropinquante mundi fine.” See
Mosheim’s General History of the Church, vol. i. p. 457.]

134 (return) [ Tum summa cura est fratribus (Ut sermo testatur
loquax.) Offerre, fundis venditis Sestertiorum millia. Addicta
avorum prædia Foedis sub auctionibus, Successor exheres gemit
Sanctis egens Parentibus. Hæc occuluntur abditis Ecclesiarum in
angulis. Et summa pietas creditur Nudare dulces
liberos.——Prudent. Hymn 2. The subsequent conduct of the deacon
Laurence only proves how proper a use was made of the wealth of
the Roman church; it was undoubtedly very considerable; but Fra
Paolo (c. 3) appears to exaggerate, when he supposes that the
successors of Commodus were urged to persecute the Christians by
their own avarice, or that of their Prætorian præfects.]

135 (return) [ Cyprian, Epistol. 62.]

136 (return) [ Tertullian de Præscriptione, c. 30.]

137 (return) [ Diocletian gave a rescript, which is only a
declaration of the old law; “Collegium, si nullo speciali
privilegio subnixum sit, hæreditatem capere non posse, dubium non
est.” Fra Paolo (c. 4) thinks that these regulations had been
much neglected since the reign of Valerian.]

138 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 131. The ground had been public;
and was row disputed between the society of Christians and that
of butchers. Note *: Carponarii, rather victuallers.—M.]

The bishop was the natural steward of the church; the public
stock was intrusted to his care without account or control; the
presbyters were confined to their spiritual functions, and the
more dependent order of the deacons was solely employed in the
management and distribution of the ecclesiastical revenue. 139 If
we may give credit to the vehement declamations of Cyprian, there
were too many among his African brethren, who, in the execution
of their charge, violated every precept, not only of evangelical
perfection, but even of moral virtue. By some of these unfaithful
stewards the riches of the church were lavished in sensual
pleasures; by others they were perverted to the purposes of
private gain, of fraudulent purchases, and of rapacious usury.
140 But as long as the contributions of the Christian people were
free and unconstrained, the abuse of their confidence could not
be very frequent, and the general uses to which their liberality
was applied reflected honor on the religious society. A decent
portion was reserved for the maintenance of the bishop and his
clergy; a sufficient sum was allotted for the expenses of the
public worship, of which the feasts of love, the _agapæ_, as they
were called, constituted a very pleasing part. The whole
remainder was the sacred patrimony of the poor. According to the
discretion of the bishop, it was distributed to support widows
and orphans, the lame, the sick, and the aged of the community;
to comfort strangers and pilgrims, and to alleviate the
misfortunes of prisoners and captives, more especially when their
sufferings had been occasioned by their firm attachment to the
cause of religion. 141 A generous intercourse of charity united
the most distant provinces, and the smaller congregations were
cheerfully assisted by the alms of their more opulent brethren.
142 Such an institution, which paid less regard to the merit than
to the distress of the object, very materially conduced to the
progress of Christianity. The Pagans, who were actuated by a
sense of humanity, while they derided the doctrines, acknowledged
the benevolence, of the new sect. 143 The prospect of immediate
relief and of future protection allured into its hospitable bosom
many of those unhappy persons whom the neglect of the world would
have abandoned to the miseries of want, of sickness, and of old
age. There is some reason likewise to believe that great numbers
of infants, who, according to the inhuman practice of the times,
had been exposed by their parents, were frequently rescued from
death, baptized, educated, and maintained by the piety of the
Christians, and at the expense of the public treasure. 144

139 (return) [ Constitut. Apostol. ii. 35.]

140 (return) [ Cyprian de Lapsis, p. 89. Epistol. 65. The charge
is confirmed by the 19th and 20th canon of the council of
Illiberis.]

141 (return) [ See the apologies of Justin, Tertullian, &c.]

142 (return) [ The wealth and liberality of the Romans to their
most distant brethren is gratefully celebrated by Dionysius of
Corinth, ap. Euseb. l. iv. c. 23.]

143 (return) [ See Lucian iu Peregrin. Julian (Epist. 49) seems
mortified that the Christian charity maintains not only their
own, but likewise the heathen poor.]

144 (return) [ Such, at least, has been the laudable conduct of
more modern missionaries, under the same circumstances. Above
three thousand new-born infants are annually exposed in the
streets of Pekin. See Le Comte, Memoires sur la Chine, and the
Recherches sur les Chinois et les Egyptians, tom. i. p. 61.]

II. It is the undoubted right of every society to exclude from
its communion and benefits such among its members as reject or
violate those regulations which have been established by general
consent. In the exercise of this power, the censures of the
Christian church were chiefly directed against scandalous
sinners, and particularly those who were guilty of murder, of
fraud, or of incontinence; against the authors or the followers
of any heretical opinions which had been condemned by the
judgment of the episcopal order; and against those unhappy
persons, who, whether from choice or compulsion, had polluted
themselves after their baptism by any act of idolatrous worship.
The consequences of excommunication were of a temporal as well as
a spiritual nature. The Christian against whom it was pronounced
was deprived of any part in the oblations of the faithful. The
ties both of religious and of private friendship were dissolved:
he found himself a profane object of abhorrence to the persons
whom he the most esteemed, or by whom he had been the most
tenderly beloved; and as far as an expulsion from a respectable
society could imprint on his character a mark of disgrace, he was
shunned or suspected by the generality of mankind. The situation
of these unfortunate exiles was in itself very painful and
melancholy; but, as it usually happens, their apprehensions far
exceeded their sufferings. The benefits of the Christian
communion were those of eternal life; nor could they erase from
their minds the awful opinion, that to those ecclesiastical
governors by whom they were condemned, the Deity had committed
the keys of Hell and of Paradise. The heretics, indeed, who might
be supported by the consciousness of their intentions, and by the
flattering hope that they alone had discovered the true path of
salvation, endeavored to regain, in their separate assemblies,
those comforts, temporal as well as spiritual, which they no
longer derived from the great society of Christians. But almost
all those who had reluctantly yielded to the power of vice or
idolatry were sensible of their fallen condition, and anxiously
desirous of being restored to the benefits of the Christian
communion.

With regard to the treatment of these penitents, two opposite
opinions, the one of justice, the other of mercy, divided the
primitive church. The more rigid and inflexible casuists refused
them forever, and without exception, the meanest place in the
holy community, which they had disgraced or deserted; and leaving
them to the remorse of a guilty conscience, indulged them only
with a faint ray of hope that the contrition of their life and
death might possibly be accepted by the Supreme Being. 145 A
milder sentiment was embraced, in practice as well as in theory,
by the purest and most respectable of the Christian churches. 146
The gates of reconciliation and of heaven were seldom shut
against the returning penitent; but a severe and solemn form of
discipline was instituted, which, while it served to expiate his
crime, might powerfully deter the spectators from the imitation
of his example. Humbled by a public confession, emaciated by
fasting and clothed in sackcloth, the penitent lay prostrate at
the door of the assembly, imploring with tears the pardon of his
offences, and soliciting the prayers of the faithful. 147 If the
fault was of a very heinous nature, whole years of penance were
esteemed an inadequate satisfaction to the divine justice; and it
was always by slow and painful gradations that the sinner, the
heretic, or the apostate, was readmitted into the bosom of the
church. A sentence of perpetual excommunication was, however,
reserved for some crimes of an extraordinary magnitude, and
particularly for the inexcusable relapses of those penitents who
had already experienced and abused the clemency of their
ecclesiastical superiors. According to the circumstances or the
number of the guilty, the exercise of the Christian discipline
was varied by the discretion of the bishops. The councils of
Ancyra and Illiberis were held about the same time, the one in
Galatia, the other in Spain; but their respective canons, which
are still extant, seem to breathe a very different spirit. The
Galatian, who after his baptism had repeatedly sacrificed to
idols, might obtain his pardon by a penance of seven years; and
if he had seduced others to imitate his example, only three years
more were added to the term of his exile. But the unhappy
Spaniard, who had committed the same offence, was deprived of the
hope of reconciliation, even in the article of death; and his
idolatry was placed at the head of a list of seventeen other
crimes, against which a sentence no less terrible was pronounced.
Among these we may distinguish the inexpiable guilt of
calumniating a bishop, a presbyter, or even a deacon. 148

145 (return) [ The Montanists and the Novatians, who adhered to
this opinion with the greatest rigor and obstinacy, found
themselves at last in the number of excommunicated heretics. See
the learned and copious Mosheim, Secul. ii. and iii.]

146 (return) [ Dionysius ap. Euseb. iv. 23. Cyprian, de Lapsis.]

147 (return) [ Cave’s Primitive Christianity, part iii. c. 5. The
admirers of antiquity regret the loss of this public penance.]

148 (return) [ See in Dupin, Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique, tom.
ii. p. 304—313, a short but rational exposition of the canons of
those councils, which were assembled in the first moments of
tranquillity, after the persecution of Diocletian. This
persecution had been much less severely felt in Spain than in
Galatia; a difference which may, in some measure account for the
contrast of their regulations.]

The well-tempered mixture of liberality and rigor, the judicious
dispensation of rewards and punishments, according to the maxims
of policy as well as justice, constituted the _human_ strength of
the church. The Bishops, whose paternal care extended itself to
the government of both worlds, were sensible of the importance of
these prerogatives; and covering their ambition with the fair
pretence of the love of order, they were jealous of any rival in
the exercise of a discipline so necessary to prevent the
desertion of those troops which had enlisted themselves under the
banner of the cross, and whose numbers every day became more
considerable. From the imperious declamations of Cyprian, we
should naturally conclude that the doctrines of excommunication
and penance formed the most essential part of religion; and that
it was much less dangerous for the disciples of Christ to neglect
the observance of the moral duties, than to despise the censures
and authority of their bishops. Sometimes we might imagine that
we were listening to the voice of Moses, when he commanded the
earth to open, and to swallow up, in consuming flames, the
rebellious race which refused obedience to the priesthood of
Aaron; and we should sometimes suppose that we heard a Roman
consul asserting the majesty of the republic, and declaring his
inflexible resolution to enforce the rigor of the laws. “If such
irregularities are suffered with impunity,” (it is thus that the
bishop of Carthage chides the lenity of his colleague,) “if such
irregularities are suffered, there is an end of EPISCOPAL VIGOR;
149 an end of the sublime and divine power of governing the
Church, an end of Christianity itself.” Cyprian had renounced
those temporal honors which it is probable he would never have
obtained; but the acquisition of such absolute command over the
consciences and understanding of a congregation, however obscure
or despised by the world, is more truly grateful to the pride of
the human heart than the possession of the most despotic power,
imposed by arms and conquest on a reluctant people.

[ Gibbon has been accused of injustice to the character of
Cyprian, as exalting the “censures and authority of the church
above the observance of the moral duties.” Felicissimus had been
condemned by a synod of bishops, (non tantum mea, sed plurimorum
coepiscorum, sententia condemnatum,) on the charge not only of
schism, but of embezzlement of public money, the debauching of
virgins, and frequent acts of adultery. His violent menaces had
extorted his readmission into the church, against which Cyprian
protests with much vehemence: ne pecuniæ commissæ sibi fraudator,
ne stuprator virginum, ne matrimoniorum multorum depopulator et
corruptor, ultra adhuc sponsam Christi incorruptam præsentiæ suæ
dedecore, et impudica atque incesta contagione, violaret. See
Chelsum’s Remarks, p. 134. If these charges against Felicissimus
were true, they were something more than “irregularities,” A
Roman censor would have been a fairer subject of comparison than
a consul. On the other hand, it must be admitted that the charge
of adultery deepens very rapidly as the controversy becomes more
violent. It is first represented as a single act, recently
detected, and which men of character were prepared to
substantiate: adulterii etiam crimen accedit. quod patres nostri
graves viri deprehendisse se nuntiaverunt, et probaturos se
asseverarunt. Epist. xxxviii. The heretic has now darkened into a
man of notorious and general profligacy. Nor can it be denied
that of the whole long epistle, very far the larger and the more
passionate part dwells on the breach of ecclesiastical unity
rather than on the violation of Christian holiness.—M.]

149 (return) [ Cyprian Epist. 69.]

[ This supposition appears unfounded: the birth and the talents of
Cyprian might make us presume the contrary. Thascius Cæcilius
Cyprianus, Carthaginensis, artis oratoriæ professione clarus,
magnam sibi gloriam, opes, honores acquisivit, epularibus cænis et
largis dapibus assuetus, pretiosa veste conspicuus, auro atque
purpura fulgens, fascibus oblectatus et honoribus, stipatus
clientium cuneis, frequentiore comitatu officii agminis honestatus,
ut ipse de se loquitur in Epistola ad Donatum. See De Cave, Hist.
Liter. b. i. p. 87.—G. Cave has rather embellished Cyprian’s
language.—M.]

In the course of this important, though perhaps tedious inquiry,
I have attempted to display the secondary causes which so
efficaciously assisted the truth of the Christian religion. If
among these causes we have discovered any artificial ornaments,
any accidental circumstances, or any mixture of error and
passion, it cannot appear surprising that mankind should be the
most sensibly affected by such motives as were suited to their
imperfect nature. It was by the aid of these causes, exclusive
zeal, the immediate expectation of another world, the claim of
miracles, the practice of rigid virtue, and the constitution of
the primitive church, that Christianity spread itself with so
much success in the Roman empire. To the first of these the
Christians were indebted for their invincible valor, which
disdained to capitulate with the enemy whom they were resolved to
vanquish. The three succeeding causes supplied their valor with
the most formidable arms. The last of these causes united their
courage, directed their arms, and gave their efforts that
irresistible weight, which even a small band of well-trained and
intrepid volunteers has so often possessed over an undisciplined
multitude, ignorant of the subject and careless of the event of
the war. In the various religions of Polytheism, some wandering
fanatics of Egypt and Syria, who addressed themselves to the
credulous superstition of the populace, were perhaps the only
order of priests 150 that derived their whole support and credit
from their sacerdotal profession, and were very deeply affected
by a personal concern for the safety or prosperity of their
tutelar deities. The ministers of Polytheism, both in Rome and in
the provinces, were, for the most part, men of a noble birth, and
of an affluent fortune, who received, as an honorable
distinction, the care of a celebrated temple, or of a public
sacrifice, exhibited, very frequently at their own expense, the
sacred games, 151 and with cold indifference performed the
ancient rites, according to the laws and fashion of their
country. As they were engaged in the ordinary occupations of
life, their zeal and devotion were seldom animated by a sense of
interest, or by the habits of an ecclesiastical character.
Confined to their respective temples and cities, they remained
without any connection of discipline or government; and whilst
they acknowledged the supreme jurisdiction of the senate, of the
college of pontiffs, and of the emperor, those civil magistrates
contented themselves with the easy task of maintaining in peace
and dignity the general worship of mankind. We have already seen
how various, how loose, and how uncertain were the religious
sentiments of Polytheists. They were abandoned, almost without
control, to the natural workings of a superstitious fancy. The
accidental circumstances of their life and situation determined
the object as well as the degree of their devotion; and as long
as their adoration was successively prostituted to a thousand
deities, it was scarcely possible that their hearts could be
susceptible of a very sincere or lively passion for any of them.

150 (return) [ The arts, the manners, and the vices of the
priests of the Syrian goddess are very humorously described by
Apuleius, in the eighth book of his Metamorphosis.]

151 (return) [ The office of Asiarch was of this nature, and it
is frequently mentioned in Aristides, the Inscriptions, &c. It
was annual and elective. None but the vainest citizens could
desire the honor; none but the most wealthy could support the
expense. See, in the Patres Apostol. tom. ii. p. 200, with how
much indifference Philip the Asiarch conducted himself in the
martyrdom of Polycarp. There were likewise Bithyniarchs,
Lyciarchs, &c.]

When Christianity appeared in the world, even these faint and
imperfect impressions had lost much of their original power.
Human reason, which by its unassisted strength is incapable of
perceiving the mysteries of faith, had already obtained an easy
triumph over the folly of Paganism; and when Tertullian or
Lactantius employ their labors in exposing its falsehood and
extravagance, they are obliged to transcribe the eloquence of
Cicero or the wit of Lucian. The contagion of these sceptical
writings had been diffused far beyond the number of their
readers. The fashion of incredulity was communicated from the
philosopher to the man of pleasure or business, from the noble to
the plebeian, and from the master to the menial slave who waited
at his table, and who eagerly listened to the freedom of his
conversation. On public occasions the philosophic part of mankind
affected to treat with respect and decency the religious
institutions of their country; but their secret contempt
penetrated through the thin and awkward disguise; and even the
people, when they discovered that their deities were rejected and
derided by those whose rank or understanding they were accustomed
to reverence, were filled with doubts and apprehensions
concerning the truth of those doctrines, to which they had
yielded the most implicit belief. The decline of ancient
prejudice exposed a very numerous portion of human kind to the
danger of a painful and comfortless situation. A state of
scepticism and suspense may amuse a few inquisitive minds. But
the practice of superstition is so congenial to the multitude,
that if they are forcibly awakened, they still regret the loss of
their pleasing vision. Their love of the marvellous and
supernatural, their curiosity with regard to future events, and
their strong propensity to extend their hopes and fears beyond
the limits of the visible world, were the principal causes which
favored the establishment of Polytheism. So urgent on the vulgar
is the necessity of believing, that the fall of any system of
mythology will most probably be succeeded by the introduction of
some other mode of superstition. Some deities of a more recent
and fashionable cast might soon have occupied the deserted
temples of Jupiter and Apollo, if, in the decisive moment, the
wisdom of Providence had not interposed a genuine revelation,
fitted to inspire the most rational esteem and conviction,
whilst, at the same time, it was adorned with all that could
attract the curiosity, the wonder, and the veneration of the
people. In their actual disposition, as many were almost
disengaged from their artificial prejudices, but equally
susceptible and desirous of a devout attachment; an object much
less deserving would have been sufficient to fill the vacant
place in their hearts, and to gratify the uncertain eagerness of
their passions. Those who are inclined to pursue this reflection,
instead of viewing with astonishment the rapid progress of
Christianity, will perhaps be surprised that its success was not
still more rapid and still more universal. It has been observed,
with truth as well as propriety, that the conquests of Rome
prepared and facilitated those of Christianity. In the second
chapter of this work we have attempted to explain in what manner
the most civilized provinces of Europe, Asia, and Africa were
united under the dominion of one sovereign, and gradually
connected by the most intimate ties of laws, of manners, and of
language. The Jews of Palestine, who had fondly expected a
temporal deliverer, gave so cold a reception to the miracles of
the divine prophet, that it was found unnecessary to publish, or
at least to preserve, any Hebrew gospel. 152 The authentic
histories of the actions of Christ were composed in the Greek
language, at a considerable distance from Jerusalem, and after
the Gentile converts were grown extremely numerous. 153 As soon
as those histories were translated into the Latin tongue, they
were perfectly intelligible to all the subjects of Rome,
excepting only to the peasants of Syria and Egypt, for whose
benefit particular versions were afterwards made. The public
highways, which had been constructed for the use of the legions,
opened an easy passage for the Christian missionaries from
Damascus to Corinth, and from Italy to the extremity of Spain or
Britain; nor did those spiritual conquerors encounter any of the
obstacles which usually retard or prevent the introduction of a
foreign religion into a distant country. There is the strongest
reason to believe, that before the reigns of Diocletian and
Constantine, the faith of Christ had been preached in every
province, and in all the great cities of the empire; but the
foundation of the several congregations, the numbers of the
faithful who composed them, and their proportion to the
unbelieving multitude, are now buried in obscurity, or disguised
by fiction and declamation. Such imperfect circumstances,
however, as have reached our knowledge concerning the increase of
the Christian name in Asia and Greece, in Egypt, in Italy, and in
the West, we shall now proceed to relate, without neglecting the
real or imaginary acquisitions which lay beyond the frontiers of
the Roman empire.

152 (return) [ The modern critics are not disposed to believe
what the fathers almost unanimously assert, that St. Matthew
composed a Hebrew gospel, of which only the Greek translation is
extant. It seems, however, dangerous to reject their testimony. *
Note: Strong reasons appear to confirm this testimony. Papias,
contemporary of the Apostle St. John, says positively that
Matthew had written the discourses of Jesus Christ in Hebrew, and
that each interpreted them as he could. This Hebrew was the
Syro-Chaldaic dialect, then in use at Jerusalem: Origen, Irenæus,
Eusebius, Jerome, Epiphanius, confirm this statement. Jesus
Christ preached himself in Syro-Chaldaic, as is proved by many
words which he used, and which the Evangelists have taken the
pains to translate. St. Paul, addressing the Jews, used the same
language: Acts xxi. 40, xxii. 2, xxvi. 14. The opinions of some
critics prove nothing against such undeniable testimonies.
Moreover, their principal objection is, that St. Matthew quotes
the Old Testament according to the Greek version of the LXX.,
which is inaccurate; for of ten quotations, found in his Gospel,
seven are evidently taken from the Hebrew text; the threo others
offer little that differ: moreover, the latter are not literal
quotations. St. Jerome says positively, that, according to a copy
which he had seen in the library of Cæsarea, the quotations were
made in Hebrew (in Catal.) More modern critics, among others
Michaelis, do not entertain a doubt on the subject. The Greek
version appears to have been made in the time of the apostles, as
St. Jerome and St. Augustus affirm, perhaps by one of them.—G.
——Among modern critics, Dr. Hug has asserted the Greek original
of St. Matthew, but the general opinion of the most learned
biblical writer, supports the view of M. Guizot.—M.]

153 (return) [ Under the reigns of Nero and Domitian, and in the
cities of Alexandria, Antioch, Rome, and Ephesus. See Mill.
Prolegomena ad Nov. Testament, and Dr. Lardner’s fair and
extensive collection, vol. xv. Note: This question has, it is
well known, been most elaborately discussed since the time of
Gibbon. The Preface to the Translation of Schleier Macher’s
Version of St. Luke contains a very able summary of the various
theories.—M.]